


what is a half-blind wolf (but a lamb missing an eye?)

by PUNK_MENACE



Category: Graceland (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blindness, Burns, Episode: s01e04 Pizza Box, Eye Trauma, Gen, Graphic Description, Guilt, Hospitals, Hurt!Mike, Hurt/Comfort, Mike Whump, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pizza Box, Season/Series 01, Tags May Change, Violence, Whump, well half blind
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:21:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21642850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PUNK_MENACE/pseuds/PUNK_MENACE
Summary: "Mike expects Bello to get between the two of them, perhaps elect to interrogate him, which might leave him some room to stay undercover. Instead, he takes a step back and gives Eddie a slow nod. He hands Eddie the gun."An alternate ending to the episode Pizza Box in which Bello decides to put his trust in Eddie, which means Eddie can dispose of Mike as he wishes. The tactical team waiting nearby gets to them before Eddie can kill Mike but not before he makes the sayingan eye for an eyequite literal.
Relationships: Paul Briggs & Mike Warren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	what is a half-blind wolf (but a lamb missing an eye?)

When Briggs told Mike that they had some Bello business to attend to, he hadn’t thought things would go so badly this quickly. Perhaps it was the spirit of sauce night making him think everything is okay. What really matters is that he’s been teaching all of the men surrounding him how to shoot better and they probably don’t trust him, regardless of his pretty solid cover.

“I have been with you since the beginning,” Eddie grounds out, “He is _nobody_. He is no one.” He’s desperate. It’s understandable. Bello has already taken one of his eyes. Mike knows that one of them is about to get seriously hurt at the very least. There’s a good chance Mike might die.

Bello breathes slow, calm. “Give me your gun, Michael.” He can’t hesitate. His cover is so close to being blown and he can’t tell what Bello believes right now. Any sign that he isn’t truly loyal to Bello will surely get him killed. “Let him go.”

Eddie jumps to his feet. He crowds Mike, getting close enough that he can see where the skin is ripped on Eddie’s face. “I am going to take your eye, you piece of trash.” Venom drips from every word coming from Eddie, leaving absolutely no doubt in Mike’s mind that he will do good on his threat, given the chance.

Mike expects Bello to get between the two of them, perhaps elect to interrogate him, which might leave him some room to stay undercover. Instead, he takes a step back and gives Eddie a single nod. He hands Eddie the gun. Mike doesn’t even have enough time to think _oh shit_ before Eddie slams him down onto the table behind him. Mike struggles hard against him but he can’t fight against the three men that Eddie beckons over. Two of them grab one arm each and the third holds his head down. Eddie points the gun at Mike’s knees with his left hand, silently assuring to shoot his kneecaps out if he makes one wrong move, and beckons again with his right.

“Give me the lead!”

“No! No, wait! I’m not FBI, I swear, I swear to _god_!” His heart pounds hard against his chest, adrenaline flooding his body. He can’t look away from Eddie’s eye that’s clouded over and completely blind. “Don’t do this- Bello, don’t let him fucking do this!” He doesn’t know where Briggs is with the tactical team but if they don’t get here _now_ he’s going to lose his shit. And his eye. “Fuck!”

Eddie is handed a metal bowl which is no doubt filled with molten lead. He grins down at Mike. “Hold his eye open. Doesn’t matter which one.” The man holding Mike's head down pulls his left eye wide open. 

Nearby, bullets start flying, but Eddie doesn’t even flinch. Instead, he starts to tip the bowl over. His one working eye gleams maniacally. Everything around them fades away – Bello’s furious screams, the sounds of bodies being riddled with bullets, all of it is gone but the feeling of the lead dripping down into his exposed eyeball.

Mike _screams_. There’s nothing he can do but scream and scream as heat explodes all across the side of his face. His voice rips through his throat, only stopping when he drags in a ragged breath and then continues screaming.

Blood sprays above him. The bowl is knocked away and Eddie falls to the ground, dead. More bullets whizz above him and the arms holding him go limp. Mike slams into the ground and curls into himself, uncaring. He can’t stop screaming. He can’t feel the ground beneath him or even the blood on his face. The only thing he can feel is the deep, agonizing burn in his eye.

Someone grabs his shoulder and turns him on his back. The pain spikes and the last thing he hears is Briggs yelling for an ambulance.

-

The op is blown. Mike’s cover obviously didn’t hold up, through no fault of the kid’s. The tac team had been too far away and hadn’t been able to back him up. Now the kid is _half-blind_. Paul is sitting in the waiting room alone when the doctor comes out. He had sent a text to Charlie about what happened but it would still be some time before she got to the hospital.

“Agent Briggs?” Paul nods and stands. The doctor waits until he’s closer. “I’m Dr. Zhang.”

“How is he?”

“The lead did serious, permanent damage to Agent Warren’s eye. A large portion of the left side of his face has been burned, though not enough to warrant skin grafts. However…he won’t be regaining the use of his left eye.”

Paul closes his eyes and tries to breathe. “Christ.” Hearing it from the doctor made it final. Irreversible.

“We’ll need to keep him for a couple of days to monitor for infection. After that, he’s free to recover where he wishes.” Dr. Zhang looks over Mike’s chart again. “Agent Warren is in the ICU so you’re free to visit him. Don’t tire him out too much or else the nurses will have your head.”

Paul makes his way down the hospital halls. Guilt and nausea stir in his stomach. The kid had gone in alone and assumed that the tac team would get him out of the situation, rightfully so. With Mike more or less taking over the case, Paul’s biggest priority was making sure he had backup anytime he needed it. He had _one_ job today and it was to make sure that Mike didn’t get hurt.

Mike’s scream echo in his mind. Paul  _failed_ . The consequences should rest solely on his shoulders and yet Mike is the one that got maimed.

He shakes his head and steels himself. Mike has his own room in the hospital and he's alone in there, probably awake, afraid, and in serious pain. He knocks lightly once and then lets himself in. Mike is lying on his side, curled up tight and gripping the mattress hard. His eyes are closed but his face is tight. A heart monitor beeps a little too quickly – his heart rate elevated from pain. There’s an IV attached to him that's supplying him morphine, but it must not be enough to quell the pain. Paul scoots a chair closer to the bed. Most of the left side of Mike’s face is bandaged with gauze. It’s spotted with blood. Mike’s face twitches and it almost goes slack for a second before scrunching back up.

“I’m here, Mikey,” Paul murmurs. Mike doesn’t open his eyes but he mouths Paul’s name. His whole body is shaking. Paul reaches out and slowly wraps his hand around that is fisted in Mike's flimsy gown. Immediately, Mike clamps down on his hand. “I am so sorry. I should have gotten there sooner.” The guilt he feels has no way to properly reach Mike – no amount of apologizing will show him how truly sorry he is. Instead, it winds around his guts, his stomach, his heart and lungs. Paul closes his eyes and bows his head until it rests on their joined hands. Mike’s knuckles are white.

Mike starts mouthing something again. Paul leans in closer. “It hurts.” He whispers it again and again. “It’s hurt, Paul, it hurts, it _hurts_ , and I can’t s-see out of it, it hurts…”

The guilt squeezes his heart tight just as Mike squeezes his hand even tighter. “I know, kid. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’ll pass, Mikey. I’m right here.” As long as Mike wants him here, he’ll stay. He won’t move a muscle. “I’m right here.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have a fully planned out novel for this but I definitely want to bring the rest of Graceland in and also expand on the consequences of Mike losing his eye, with, of course, some suspension of disbelief. After all, I don't have any way to know what the FBI would actually do in this scenario. I also am not at all trained medically so I'm not sure if the effects of molten lead are as I've portrayed them. The good thing is that I enjoyed writing this and will hopefully continue to update! If anyone has suggestions, real medical information, or otherwise wants to squeal about Graceland with me, here's my [Tumblr](https://james-writes-occasionally.tumblr.com/).


End file.
